Indian becomes Dubai Duty Free millionaire

DDF sales on its 30th Anniversary Day top Dh111 million, a new record

By

Staff

PublishedMonday, December 23, 2013

Dubai Duty Free’s anniversary day on December 20, 2013, resulted in a new daily record as sales soared to Dh111.88 million ($30.65 million), as the airport retailer extended up to 30 per cent discount on a wide range of products. The new daily record represents a 40 per cent per cent increase over last year’s anniversary sales.

A special discount offer of up to 30 per cent to mark Dubai Duty Free’s 30th Anniversary resulted in a spending spree at Dubai International Airport that began at midnight on December 19 and continued throughout the anniversary day sale. Dubai Duty Free also sourced and offered seven different products sold at 1983 prices on the day.

Commenting on the anniversary day, Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice-Chairman, Dubai Duty Free, said: “We had a fantastic day on our anniversary with a huge surge of sales. Extending a 30 per cent discount to our customers was our way of saying thank you for three decades of support. I join our Chairman, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, in congratulating all of our staff, suppliers and partners on the occasion of this milestone anniversary.

“We began introducing a discount offer across a wide range of merchandise on our 20th Anniversary in 2003 and it has become a popular day with travellers, some of whom book their flights in order to shop on that day,” added McLoughlin.

From a category point of view, Perfumes was the highest selling category with sales of Dh31.2 million ($8.5 million) and representing 27.9 per cent of the total daily sales. Watches and Clocks was the second most popular category on the anniversary day with sales of Dh25.5 million ($7 million). Cosmetics came in at third place, category wise, with sales of Dh14.2 million ($3.9 million).

Liquor came in fourth position followed by Cigarettes. Other notable increases were seen in Confectionery, which rose by 33 per cent to Dh4.5 million ($1.2 million) and Delicatessen, which recorded Dh2.3 million ($619,000). Departure sales recorded $28.3 million, representing 92.3 per cent of total anniversary sales.

The 30th anniversary celebrations saw DDF officials headed by Colm McLoughlin along with George Horan, President, and other senior officials conduct a Millennium Millionaire draw in Series no. 156 – ticket No. 3468. The DDF Millennium Millionaire draws are for $1 million (Dh3.67m) each.

The winner was Ajith Krishnan, a Dubai-based Indian national who purchased the winning ticket along with his nine colleagues from the Perfect Tools Moulds Factory in Dubai.

Following the draw, a presentation was made to a previous Millennium Millionaire winner, Rabia Rabia Manzil Asharaf, a 22-year old Indian national who won her $1 million dollar prize in Series 155 with ticket No. 4993.

Winner of a previous Finest Surprise draw visited Dubai Duty Free as well to receive his prize. Ramnath Balakrishnan, an Indian national living in Dubai, stood proudly next to his sporty McLaren MP4 12C Coupe which he won in Series 1546 with ticket No. 1351.

Following all of the excitement of the draw and presentations in Terminal 1, Dubai Duty Free senior managers then proceeded to Terminal 3-Concourse B where a Finest Surprise draw for two luxury cars and a motorbike was held and two final draws for the Shop and Win promotion to win a 30g DDF gold coin.

Dubai Duty Free’s employees also enjoyed a special Staff Finest Surprise draw which resulted in a total of Dh190,000 being won by employees. Dubai Duty Free currently employs 6,000 staff and of the original 100 staff who joined in December 1983, 44 remain in active service.